Nova Scotia has long been concerned about the health and welfare of young children in child care centres. However, with increasing rates of chronic disease in the province and more knowledge about the influences on… More

The Nutrition Standards in Child Care Project (NSCCP) began in 2012. This was a research project that wanted to see if the Standards and Guidelines for Food and Nutrition in regulated Child Care Settings helped to… More

The vignettes in the Sharing Stories video are some of the stories we heard along the way, and represent to us a reminder that, although we may individually support young children in different ways as… More

Responsive feeding, recognized by health agencies worldwide, refers to the reciprocal interaction between the child and caregiver. The child can signal their hunger of fullness and the caregiver responds in an appropriate, respectful and supportive way. The feeding environment is calm and comfortable. The caregiver provides healthy and aesthetically pleasing meal and snacks, models healthy eating, supports the child to self-feed and uses subtle verbal cues that are focused on internal hunger or fullness, rather that external ones. For example the caregiver may say, ‘do you feel full or do you feel like you are still hungry?’ rather than ‘eat all your meal so you will be a big boy or girl’. Food is not used as a reward nor a punishment.

Caregivers should also support a positive social environment for meal and snack times; listen to the stories the children will share and share stories with them. Isn’t this what we all most enjoy about sharing meals with others? We believe that these positive memories will support a lifelong healthy relationship with food.

Suggestions?

The goal of the Child Food Futures website is to share the findings from the NSCCP and the Sharing Stories projects with the intent to inspire ideas and conversation about how to support healthy eating among young children.

How can this new information related to supporting healthy eating of young children be acted upon?

Do you have any additional questions or suggestions about the research and related projects?